MacArthur: The gospel, however, assaults

We must recognize that the fallen sinner hates the true God and fatally loves himself. Of course he wants a god who will give him what he wants! The gospel, however, assaults the sinner’s self-worship, self-assurance, self-esteem, and smugness, shattering his confidence in his religion and his spirituality. It crushes him under the full weight of God’s law with a verdict of guilty. The only way he can be set free is if he comes to loathe himself and all his ambitions, repent of his sins, and love the one true God, whom Holy Scripture reveals to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is the message under which God awakens the sinner and leads him to repentance and faith. Never appeal to that which enslaves the sinner—materialism, sex, pleasure, personal ambition, a better life, success, or whatever—in an effort to convince the sinner of his need to be rescued from the very enslavement you’re appealing to. Instead, call the sinner to flee from all that is natural, all that so powerfully enslaves him, and urge him to come to the cross to be saved from eternal judgment.

Anyabwile, T. M., Dever, M., Duncan, J. L., MacArthur, J. F., Jr., Mahaney, C. J., Mohler, R. A., Jr., … Sproul, R. C. (2009). Proclaiming a cross-centered theology. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

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John Stott on the "old man" and the "body ruled by sin" in Rom 6 v 6

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Boice: “... the federal way of dealing with us was actually the fairest and kindest of all the ways God could have operated. ”

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Repackaging the gospel? It's more like obscuring the gospel!

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